The Empress Longyu, the wife of the Emperor Guangxu, is the last empress of Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and also the over two thousand years' of the long Chinese feudal society. Though honored as the royal empress, she could not get the true love from her emperor husband who deeply favored his concubine Zhen. The unfortunate Empress had to spend most of her lonely days in this not big courtyard – Yiyun House.

Located to the north of the Hall of Jade Ripples , Yiyun House was built in the reign of Emperor Qianlong and was repaired in the reign of Emperor Guangxu. In Chinese, "Yiyun" means 'convenient to collect and read books'. From the meaning of this Chinese word, we can see the elegance of this house.

Yiyun House was constructed in a typical Siheyuan-Style (a kind of traditional Chinese structure). The main hall of it is composed of the five front rooms, three back rooms, five eastern affiliated rooms and five western affiliated rooms. Both the front and the back sides of the hall are added by doors. Pass through the exquisitely adorned Chui Hua Men (Hanging Flower Gate), you will find the rooms within it are dainty and splendid, and there are many curiosities displayed in them. All the furniture is enchased by precious stones and bamboo filament, which exquisitely form many beautiful flower patterns. The eastern affiliated room is named Dao Cun Zhai and the western one Jin Xi Xuan. On the walls along the corridor inside Yiyun Gate, ten stone inscriptions copied by Emperor Qianlong were engraved.

The main hall was once the dwelling of the Empress Longyu, Emperor Guangxu's wife, while the western affiliated hall was home to his beloved concubine Zhen. After the failure of Reform Movement in 1898, the house became partitioned, making it very difficult for Guangxu to meet with his lover.

Today the master of this house has already passed away, but stroll in it, and you could still sense a kind of loneliness and grief which seems to tell you the sad life of the empress.